The PIP (Project for Innovative Poetry) was created by Green Integer and its publisher, Douglas Messerli, in 2000. The Project publishes regular anthologies of major international poets and actively archives biographies of poets and listings of their titles.

December 1, 2008

Pablo Neruda

Pablo Neruda [Chile]1904-1973

Born in Parral, Chile, Pablo Neruda has long been considered one of the most important Spanish American poets of the 20th century. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1971.

His early youth was spent in the small town of Temuco, and later he attended schools in the capital city of Santiago. He studied French at the University of Santiago.

He began writing poetry early, including the highly-praised Viente poems de amor y una canción desesperada (1924, Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair), La canción de la fiesta (1921), and Crepusculario (1923).

Soon after graduating, Neruda obtained an appointment in the Chilean diplomatic service, and was sent to Rangoon, Burma. It was there and elsewhere in the Far East that he completed the first volume of his great collection Residencia en la tierra (1933, Residence on Earth). During this period, he became friends with the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca. In 1934 Neruda was assigned as Chilean consul in Barcelona, which brought him closer to García Lorca and other poets of the Generation of 1927, who hailed him a major figure of Hispanic literature. He completed the second volume of Residencia en la tierra while in Spain.

The Spanish Civil War changed his life and poetry, as he moved to a personal voice to more political involved and ideological positions. He particiapted in leftist politics and became a member of the Chilean Communist Party in 1945. Because of his support of the Soviet Union, particularly while he was consul in Mexico City, he was attacked by pro-Nazi sympathizers, and was stripped of his diplomatic position.

A visit to the Incan ruins of Macchu Picchu in 1943 inspired him to write Alturas de Macchu Picchu (1943, The Heights of Macchu Picchu), which he later incorporated into his book Canto general (1950, general song). The final volume of Residencia en la tierra was completed in 1947, containing poems written between 1935 and 1945.

Neruda was elected to the Chilean senate in 1946, but when he denounced the goverment's anticommunisct purge, he was indicted and was forced to flee Chile. He traveled extensively until 1952, a time during which he was awarded the Stalin Prize for literature and the Lenin Peace Prize.

1 comment:

Thanks for this succinct bio! If you really like Neruda, check out Red Poppy at www.redpoppy.net. It's a non-profit set up to create a documentary about Neruda, publish his biography, and translate his works into English.